Professional investigators for the New York City district attorney have found ongoing criminal activity within the Trump Organization that has now brought the state attorney general into the probe of both civil and criminal violations by the family business of former president Donald J. Trump.
Ongoing criminal activities were present both before and during Trump’s one term in office and involve not only him but also members of his family, including daughter Ivanka, his two adult sons, and son-in-law Jared Kushner report sources close to the probe.
With tax returns for the past eight years now in possession of the city district attorney and the state, details on what investigators consider tax and loan fraud, along with other crimes, are now documented, the reports say.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James has now confirmed that their probe now extends beyond civil liabilities and includes criminal probes.
“We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature,” Fabien Levy, a spokesman for Ms. James, said in a statement to the media. “We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan D.A. We have no additional comment at this time.”
The New York Times, which has uncovered specific cases of tax and loan fraud, found Trump illegally inflated his property values to obtain loans he was not qualified for and then lowered the values to reduce taxes.
Ms. James has assigned two of her assistant attorneys general to the city district attorney to help with the criminal investigation.
Trump is also under criminal investigation in Georgia, where he tried to force that state to illegally change the votes to fraudulently give him the election he lost in November 2020.
In a conference call recorded without Trump’s knowledge, he consistently urged the state to “just find the votes” he needed to revere his defeat into a victory. They could do it, he said, by manipulating the numbers.
The chief prosecutor of Fulton County, Fani T. Willis, told state leaders that Trump’s actions point to a wider scope of illegality that includes “the solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local governmental bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement or threats related to the election’s administration.”
An inspector general’s report of the questionable actions of Trump’s U.S. attorney general William Barr led the Justice Department to not refer attempts by Trump to obstruct justice for prosecution, another misuse of illegal actions that could have led to the conviction in his first impeachment trial.
“The seeds of corruption and fraud by a criminal president have taken root,” says one former Justice Department attorney. “It doesn’t look good for Trump.”
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